Local ER now has Appointment Times!!! wtf

socalmedic

socalmedic

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Scheduled emergency...?

If it's anything like my PCP I should schedule my appointment now for the leg I break when I do my backpacking trip this summer :ph34r:
 
Yep, heard about it on the radio. However, since emergency departments are acting more and more like urgent care centers, why not? As long as they aren't bumping more serious patients in order to get the people with appointments in, an extra $15 per patient can go a long way.
 
if your not seen within 15 mins of your appointment time you get your money back. this isnt going to turn out good
 
If only we could take a step forward in EMS education, implement community paramedicine programs, and work on billing insurance as not only emergency but urgent care as well... hmm, maybe it is just a dream.
 
the trend in building new EDs is to have an urgent care attached. Some in order to provide better care, staff urgent care with internal medicine and peds specialists.

I see it as capitalizing on a trend where people can see the doctor at their convenience, not the doctor's.
 
That's crazy. Next they are going to set appointment times to have a box transport the person to the hospital for there ED appointment.
 
I guess next time I think that I "might" have an emergency i will schedule appointment :rolleyes:
 
Veneficus said:
the trend in building new EDs is to have an urgent care attached. Some in order to provide better care, staff urgent care with internal medicine and peds specialists.

I see it as capitalizing on a trend where people can see the doctor at their convenience, not the doctor's.
Click to expand...

thats good to hear they are doing that. when i was doing clinical hours we had patients in beds in the actual rooms and all they had was a cough or fever. all the beds got full so we had a patient in a bed in the hallway having a seizer. and another patient with a tib-fib fracture in the hallway. that will take some of the less serious patients and put them in urgent care and open up some much needed ER beds and rooms. (i know coughs and fevers can get bad but that was their only medical problem and were released 2 hours later)
 
I don't know about charging and appointments, but I do recall seeing a billboard in Vegas about texting a number to get an estimated wait time for an ED.
 
I have a niece that works in a "step-down unit" of the ED. The "step-down unit" sees the non-critical pts., sore throats, coughs, etc. (Sounds like a Urgent Care) but, they also take care of the pt. that need to be observed. These are the pt. that started out in the regular ED, and that don't need to be admitted to the hospital, they will stay less than 24 hours. They also watch the pt. that need IV fluid or antibiotics, that take hours to run in.
I thought it was kind of a neat idea. If it is quiet on the "step-down" side the RN's go and help out in the ED.
 
We have a "Chest Pain Unit" which where we put our 23 hour observations. These are usually non cardiac chest pain pt's that are essentially just being held for repeat trops. Its supposed to open up rooms....and we have to have it for our chest pain accreditation.
 
socalmedic said:
my local hospital now allows you to make an appointment for the ER from home, and you are guaranteed to be seen with in 15 min of your appointment time. oh and this is going to cost more money. what will they think of next.

http://www.emsworld.com/article/article.jsp?id=16001&siteSection=1
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Cool! I always wondered how a busy person could fit in actue illness and sudden injury.......just put it on the schedule! I can finally plan to trip and break something now. That's such a relief! ^_^
 
one of the hospitals i worked at had appointments for only pediactric cases after 5pm when pedi pcps close they just referred them to the ER.
 
This doesn't suprise me one bit. In countries with socialized healthcare, you need to bribe the doctor to give you more attention, or to perform a surgery. Otherwise, you get only a few short moments of the doctor's time, or may wait a long time for your surgery. The ED's taking payments (legal bribes, essentially) to let you skip the line is only the first step. Wait until your PCP needs to herd in as many pts as possible in order to turn a profit, since they're not making much on each pt. A bribe will get you in quicker, or get you more one-on-one time with the doc. That's how my old roomate from Canada explained it to me.

Edit: I wouldn't be suprised if the economically disadvantaged cry foul since they lack the ability to pay this fee like others can.
 
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Very unfortunate the Emergency Medicine has come to taking appointments.

This can't help things.................

CNSNews.com
Health Law Bans New Doctor-Owned Hospitals, Blocks Expansion of Existing Ones
Monday, April 12, 2010
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – The new health care overhaul law – that promised increased access and efficiency in health care – will prevent doctor-owned hospitals from adding more rooms and more beds.

These hospitals are advertised as less bureaucratic and more focused on doctor-patient decision making. However, larger corporate hospitals say doctor-owned facilities discriminate in favor of high-income patients and refer business to themselves.
Click to expand...
cnsnews.com/news/article/64034
 
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PotashRLS said:
Very unfortunate the Emergency Medicine has come to taking appointments.

This can't help things.................

CNSNews.com
Health Law Bans New Doctor-Owned Hospitals, Blocks Expansion of Existing Ones
Monday, April 12, 2010
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – The new health care overhaul law – that promised increased access and efficiency in health care – will prevent doctor-owned hospitals from adding more rooms and more beds.

These hospitals are advertised as less bureaucratic and more focused on doctor-patient decision making. However, larger corporate hospitals say doctor-owned facilities discriminate in favor of high-income patients and refer business to themselves.
Click to expand...

Great - with the gov't destroying free enterprise, taking over healthcare, we can expect our medical innovations to come to a grinding halt. Where's the financial incentive?
 
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I can see this getting ugly. People already get angry for waiting in the ER. Add "having an appointment" to the mix and let the emotions rise.

For the most part, I am in the "If you're worried about ER wait times, you don't need an ER" group but also realize that people without insurance can't see a normal doctor because they can't pay and the ER is their only access to medical care.

I do wish more hospitals employed "Step down" places, for the appointments and left ER beds free for emergency patients.
 
Longer wait times. Whoa, suddenly I have the urge to get into the food vending business. "Hot dog, hot dog, who wants a hot dog? Laceration to the hip? Let a hot dog soothe your pain!"
 
With the millions of uninsured Americans and even the insured ones without a GP Brown can see why this is happening.

Its not right, but it doesn't come as much of a suprise.

Small projects are underway here in NZ to get NPs or GPs into the ED in order to refer people to them so they still get seen but do not tie up the ED proper.
 
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